TAILGATING!!!!

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL?!?!

Looking forward to seeing my Bearcat family tomorrow for the spring game tailgate at the Holy Grail in Clifton!  Tailgate starts at 1pm and runs until gametime at 6pm.  Yours truly will be slinging the drinks, along with Don Andres!  $2 beers and wells, free food, silent auction with some cool UC things, among other things!

French Ben will be on the 1s and 2s playing the music for us...

Ms. Ashley Esterle will be snapping the photos again so make sure you have your Bearcat gear on!  (check out her blog to some very, very cool photos... http://ashleyesterlephotographer.blogspot.com/ also check out the "Event pictures" link here in my blog for her pics from the happy hour event last Friday)

Welcome to Cincinnati!

See you guys tomorrow at the Holy Grail in CLIFTON!!!!

Holy Grail

13 West Charlton Street
Cincinnati, OH 45219-1907

As always, if you can't make it you can always make an tax deductible online donation.  All proceeds go directly to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society!  Click the "Donate Now!" link above in the header of the blog and it will take you to my donation page.  Thanks guys and gals!!

Justin

Before I forget... a special shoutout to Stephanie Arango for competing in the Boston Marathon on Monday and completing her marathon quest of running a marathon in ALL 50 states in 2 years!!  Congrats!!  Quite and accomplishment! :)

THANK YOU!!!!!!

Some of you might have seen my Facebook post but I just want to thank everyone for coming to the kick-off happy hour at Lunar Lounge on Friday nite.  I hope that you all had a blast!  It was a very humbling experience for me to see all of the love and support from my family and friends.  It was just awesome to see everyone come out and support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  It means the world to, the Coyle, my family, myself and also LLS. 

I also want to thank Ashely Esterle for taking her great photography skills (see Facebook and also the "Event Pictures" link to see pics from the happy hour).  Also, I want to thank Brian Benton for Dj/Emceeing the event.  He did a great job pumping the tunes and keeping the happy hour entertaining.  Both of you guys did such a great job!

I hope that you all enjoyed the Montgomery Inn, Jeff Ruby's, Elm Street Deli and my mom's meatballs... b/c I'll be eating all the leftovers for about a month!  I think I overshot the amount of food you all would eat by about 100 people.  Next Saturday when I have the tailgate party I expect you all to eat more!

I want to give a special thanks to the Coyle Family.  Annie and your family are truly an inspiration.  When I think of your family and others that have been through the times that my family and yours have I think of one of my favorite songs... Here is the refrain of the song, "The Words I Would Say:"

"Be strong in the Lord and,
Never give up hope,
You're going to do great things,
I already know,
God's got His hand on you so,
Don't live life in fear,
Forgive and forget,
But don't forget why you're here,
Take your time and pray,
These are the words I would say..."

And here is the actual song...

God bless you all and onward to $100K!!!

Remember, if you have friends and family that want to donate please see the "Donate Now!" link to make a 100% taxable deducible donation to LLS!

Love you guys!!!

Justin and my awesome campaign team!!!

Its Happy Hour Time!!!!

Today is my grandma's birthday, she lost her battle in 2002 from Non-Hodkin Lymphoma, and I can't think of a better way to celebrate and honor her than this happy hour tonite to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I hope to see you all tonite at Lunar Cincinnati from 5pm-9pm to help raise money for LLS and find a cure for these blood cancers. I know she is smiling down on us today....

With that said... ITS HAPPY HOUR TIME!!!!  HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A GREAT TIME TONITE!! I'M SO EXCITED FOR IT!!

CATCH YOU ON THE FLIP SIDE!! :)

Justin

Blog is Live!

Well everyone I have 2 days until my first event and I am feeling very excited!  I can't wait to see you all at the happy hour event at Lunar Lounge THIS Friday.  Its going to be a very fun event.  My campaign team has been working hard putting this together and I know I couldn't have done it with out them.... So until then... Have fun on Friday and I'll check back with you afterwards!

Keep spreading the word and donating!

Thanks so much!  It means the world to me and also the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society!

Justin

How this came about....

The start of it all…

I got a call from a good friend of mine, Amanda Newsom, in November 2010 asking me if I wanted to be considered for a nomination to participate in the Man and Woman of the Year campaign in.  My grandma lost her battle with Non-Hodkin Lymphoma in 2002 so I couldn’t let this opportunity pass by without having an opportunity to give back and make a difference in other people's lives.  I didn’t commit right away because at the time I was traveling a lot for work and I wasn’t too sure of all the details of the campaign.  If I committed to do this I wasn’t going to half-ass it, I wanted to do it 110%, so my travel schedule at the time was a little concerning.  When my schedule was more set in January 2011 I decided it was time to commit.  I accepted my nomination in January of 2011 and the planning began….

Amanda and I spent quite a bit of talking about different events that she did when she did the campaign in 2009.  She was a huge help on telling me what worked well and what were bad ideas for raising money.  I would run ideas by her and she would give me guidance.  Ironically, after I officially accepted my nomination Amanda jets off to Newport Beach for 6 months!!  During her campaign she raised just over $68K and I vowed that I would beat her number! :)

As I started planning I started reaching out to my contacts to see if friends would be willing to donate their skills, time and contacts.  It was amazing to me how many of my friends were so willing to help out.  Fortunately, or I should say unfortunately, the more of my contacts I talked to about this campaign the more people I found out were affected one way or another by these blood cancers, so they were all willing to help out for this great cause.

Without them and the support and help from my family there is no way I could do this campaign.  At the end of the day it is not about me, its about the people in this world suffering from these awful blood cancers.

I am forever grateful to my family and my friends who have donated their time and effort to help out in this campaign.  I know that I will never be able to thank them enough.

My campaign team:

Gene Kramer – Grandpa

Shirley- Great aunt

Bob Dobbs – Dad

Kim Dobbs- Mom

Brandon Dobbs- Twin brother

Lyndsee Dobbs Ballinger- Sister

Kyle Ballinger- Brother-in-law

Stephanie Arango - Friend (Social Media Manager)

Jennifer Wolfe – Friend (Head Campaign Manager)

Amanda Newsom – Friend (My West Coast Manager)

Tom Carleton – Friend (Social gathering Manager)

Scott Spilman - Friend (Design Manager)
Ashley Esterle (Photography Manager)

See my event link for upcoming events and if you can’t make any events please click the “Donate Now!” link to make your online donation.  No matter how small the donation, every little bit helps!!

Welcome to my Blog!

Hey guys and gals!  Welcome to my Man of the Year Blog.  I am going to track my journey through this 10 week campaign and provide updates on my events, pictures from my events and any other random facts about LLS.  You can also follow the link above and donate to the campaign.  All proceeds go directly to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society!!  Keep checking back for updates throughout these 10 weeks!!


Thanks!
Justin

About this Blog

Myself and Annie Coyle-- the Girl of the Year

Hello everyone!

Justin Dobbs here!

This is my blog for my Man of the Year campaign to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society!! I will be providing updates on events I will be hosting starting April 1st thru June 10th.

My website to make online donations is now active and donations can be made now by going to this link.

For those of you that don't know what this campaign is about here are some details:

I’ve recently been nominated to run for this year’s Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Man of the Year 2011! This event consists of a ten-week fundraising effort in which the funds collected will go towards research and support of those patients currently battling a blood related cancer. I’m so excited to be part of this event and hope that you will join me in supporting the mission of the LLS to change the future for leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma patients. This nomination is truly an honor for me as the LLS has touched my life so deeply. 

In May 1994, my grandmother (Mary) was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL). At the age of thirteen I really had no idea what that meant or how this disease was going to impact my family’s lives. As I went through the high school years and my grandma got worse, we would spend holidays in the hospital by her side. My family is very close and we just couldn’t imagine celebrating a holiday without her. In June 1999 she took a turn for the worse and was in the hospital for my high school graduation. While I was sad that she couldn’t be there to see me graduate I was more sad for her because I know how much a good education meant to her and my grandpa.

My grandma was a fighter and she fought this disease for 8 years. During those 8 years it was a rollercoaster of emotions, from the hospital visits to the trip to Florida in 2000 to celebrate their 50 year wedding anniversary, while she was in remission. In July 2002, she finally lost her battle with Lymphoma. This was very hard for my family and me but one of the last things that she said was, “I hope you don’t forget me.” By participating in this campaign I can continue to honor her memory. My goal is to raise $100,000 for the LLS. This ambitious goal will allow me to name a research grant in Mary’s name.

Even on days when she felt her worst she would make sure she didn’t let that affect time with the family. What she wanted most was for others not to worry about her. I’m so lucky that I have the memories of her and try to remind myself daily of how lucky I was to have the first 20 years of my life with her.

My grandma was honest, sincere, compassionate, trustworthy and just a treat to be around. She was certainly a person who would do anything for anyone at the drop of a hat and her amazing character has left such a footprint on the lives of so many others she came in contact with.

I miss my grandma immensely and can’t help but wonder if things may have turned out differently for her if more people were aware of and willing to support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s mission. Every five minutes someone in the U.S. is diagnosed with a blood cancer and every ten minutes someone dies from a blood cancer. However, the research and treatment largely funded by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society is paying off. I am passionate about this organization and believe that together we can make leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma a thing of the past. 

It is my goal to do whatever I can to prevent other individuals from going through what my grandma did and to prevent other families from going through such a tragic loss that my family experienced. This is why I’m seeking your help. On June 10, 2011, I will find out if I am this year’s Man of the Year. The purpose of this fan page to detail some events I will be hosting over the 10 weeks and also ask for donations for my campaign, please consider making a donation. Your donation would be greatly appreciated and help to ensure a successful campaign for all. All proceeds will go directly to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.